Thursday, November 29, 2012

1. I was in Tokyo recently to participate in the celebration of the 30th year of the Look East Policy. Some 15,000 young Malaysians were educated or trained in Japan during those years. Strangely I have not heard anyone of them complain about the policy or their participation. They all seem to be happy with their experience under the Look East Policy.

2. There must be at least a few who may not be happy. But I have not met them.

3. They all seem to be employed and a few have started their own businesses in Malaysia or in Japan. Some are married to Japanese girls.

4. I would like to claim that the Look East Policy was good for Malaysia. Those trained under the programme seem to have imbibed some Japanese characters and values. Actually the Look East Policy was not so much about getting Japanese investments or technologies as it was about learning Japanese work ethics and the discipline of the work place. I believe strongly that the success or otherwise of a person, a race or a nation is dependent on their values, their work ethics and their discipline when doing whatever they have to do.

5. In 1961 when I went to Japan for the first time I observed their diligence and dedication in the work of rebuilding their nation. It was already 16 years after the near-total destruction of their country but there was hardly any trace of it. Everywhere I saw people busily constructing new buildings, everywhere I saw cement-mixer trucks being driven to worksites and back to the mixing plants.

6. I did not see any foreign cars but their cars did not look so good. What struck me most was their behaviour when there was a collision. The drivers came out, bowed to each other and then drove off. What happened after that I do not know.

7. Hotel workers did not accept tips but their service cannot be faulted. Japanese hotel staff, including managers, line up to welcome me upon arrival and to wave goodbye when I leave even after I cease to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

8. I was familiar with Japanese products before the Pacific War. They were shoddy and breakdown easily. When a Japanese exhibition ship came to Singapore during my student days, there were crude jokes about scratching the paint off their cars and finding the “Milo” label underneath.

9. By the time I went to Japan, the quality of their cameras and motorcycles could not be questioned. They were superb. So were their watches. Japanese brands had become the mark of quality.

10. Since 1961, I had visited Japan very many times and I was amazed at their progress and the speed with which they demolished their old reputation for low quality. And I wished we in Malaysia could be like them.

11. Everyone knows about “hara-kiri” or “seppuku” the Japanese practice of ritual suicide when they failed in whatever they were tasked to do. When Japan lost the war thousands of Japanese soldiers committed suicide.

12. I thought at first that this Japanese practice was quite inhuman and uncivilised. Then I realised that the Japanese have a strong sense of shame. When they fail they consider it so shameful that life was not worth living.

13. They do not commit hara-kiri now but some of their Ministers would resign if something wrong happened in their ministry. They would accordingly try not to fail in their work.

14. I noticed the quality and fineness of the handmade bamboo products. I believe that this is the result of their trying to avoid feeling ashamed of shoddy work.

15. I think that is why the Japanese produce such high quality products we are familiar with today. Their cars are of the best quality. Really they are as good as the top German cars. In fact in many ways they are better. And I believe this derives from their desire not to be ashamed of their work.

16. Japan is far more secure than most other countries in the East or the West. We don’t read reports of people being coshed in the parks or dark streets. Certainly burglary is not as common as it is in Malaysia.

17. Cleanliness is almost a fetish in Japan. Young school children would not throw rubbish on the road. They would carry whatever they wanted to get rid off until they find a rubbish bin. Japanese employees with ties on can be seen watering and sweeping the pavements in front of their shops. No Malaysian would do this, certainly not with their ties on.

18. Japanese factory workers often arrive early at the work place to discuss with fellow-workers their target for the day. They regard the next shift as their customers who must be served well. They would clean up their work-bench before going off, so that the next shift can start work immediately. They are constantly trying to improve their products. They call this “kaizen”.

19. They have workers unions but they seldom go on strike. Certainly we do not hear of a general strike which really is a political act. They remain loyal to their company for life.

20. In return the company looks after the workers. Until lately they do not sack their workers, preferring to reassign them if the company did not do well or the workers have become unproductive.

21. In recent years they have abandoned this practice. The sacked workers feel so ashamed that they refuse to go home to their families. During the recession the unemployed workers would erect huts of blue plastic in open spaces or wide road dividers and live in them. They would go around collecting tin-cans to shape them into toys to sell for a living. This is something that you do not see anywhere else. The unemployed always expect to be on dole provided by Governments. I have not seen destitute tramps in rags in Japan as I have seen in many Western countries.

22. The Japanese really work hard. This one single character contributes the most to the success of individuals, society or nation. They are not laid back. Akio Morita, the founder of Sony Corporation, tells in his book about how the Japanese worker was willing to be paid with a ball of rice with soya sauce in the early years after the war. That willingness must have contributed much to the recovery of Japan and high pay that Japanese workers enjoy now.

23. Working hard may not mean working smart, but certainly it is much more productive than not working or being laid back.

24. Watching the Japanese and their progress over the years convinced me that adopting their work ethics and the discipline of their work place would do the same for Malaysians and Malaysia.

25. And so hardly a year after becoming Prime Minister, with the authority vested in me I proposed the Look East Policy. Many in my cabinet the administration and the public questioned the wisdom of this policy. Many said why copy the copier; why not go to the source of modern industrial civilisation. But enough accepted the novel policy and so the Look East Policy was adopted and implemented.

26. I believe it is a success. At the Tokyo forum organised by Nomura Securities, Nikkei and Khazanah, the talk was about the future strategies and form that the Look East Policy would take. But whatever, the one single most important aspect of the Look East Policy is the development of a value system, a work culture and ethics that is compatible with success. And among them should be the cultivation of a strong sense of shame when delivering results which do not give pride to the person, the people or the country. This feeling of shame will make us work hard to deliver the best in everything that we do. That is the essence of the Look East Policy. May it continue for the next 30 years at least.

Monday, November 26, 2012

1. Thank you for your comments on my speech given at a forum held in Kuala Lumpur on 19th November 2012 themed “9/11 Seeking the Truth.” Apart from myself three others spoke, each with his own reasons for doubting that the attack against the twin World Trade Towers of New York was the work of Arab terrorists. Their talk was illustrated with video clips of the attack and the subsequent collapse of not just the two towers but of a third tower next to them which was not hit by any aircraft or by the collapsing towers.

2. One pointed out that upon being informed that the towers were hit by airplanes, Bush did nothing for almost 10 minutes. Rumsfeld who was in the Pentagon building was told that a commercial aircraft was headed for the Pentagon after the twin towers were hit. No commercial aircrafts or other aircrafts were supposed to fly towards the Pentagon. It was 50 miles from the building when Rumsfeld was told. But he did nothing. No fighter aircrafts were scrambled to stop the oncoming aircrafts. And the aircraft was said to crash into the Pentagon.

3. Another speaker illustrated his talk with video clips showing how the towers collapsed straight down as characteristic of planned demolition. There were shots of the fire brigade personnel describing the collapse and gesturing with their hands that the building came down with loud boom, boom, boom, boom, boom ….. at each stage. Other witnesses described the collapse in the same way.

4. An association of architects and engineers declared that the collapse was typical of a planned demolition. They pointed out that buildings do not collapse due to fire. The steel frames would not come down with the building unless they were destroyed by explosives, as happens with demolitions.

5. The video also showed melted steel pouring down the sides as the buildings came down. This can only happen if a certain chemical which burn with very high temperatures, higher than the melting point of steel, ignites during the fire. Traces of this chemical was found at the site later on.

6. But the most telling feature is the similar straight-down collapse of a third building next to the twin towers. This building was not hit by any aircraft or by the two towers crashing against it as they collapse.

7. The collapse of this building also showed the features of a demolition. No other buildings close by were damaged in any way.

8. Normally when a plane, especially a commercial plane crashes, the black box would be among the debris. No black boxes were found. Presumably they were melted by the intense heat.

9. Yet a passport was found in the debris, revealing the name of the “terrorist.” Isn’t it strange that intense heat which could melt steel could not burn the paper of the passport. There was no report of other passports being found.

10. All these things pointed out by the speakers indicate a very sophisticated operation.

11. A few years back a group of Americans came to Malaysia bringing with them videos of the 9/11 attacks against the twin towers, the Pentagon and the crash of the fourth plane in Pennsylvania. One of them was the janitor who was declared a hero by the US Government for saving the lives of 200 people in the lower floors.

12. He told the Government enquiry commission preparing a report on the 9/11 crash about the explosions as the building came down. His evidence, he said was not included in the report.

13. A society of engineers made public their doubts that the collapse of the towers was due to the plane crash and fire. They believed that it was due to demolition.

14. If you are interested enough you can access a whole lot of websites on “9/11 truth” and you will find that I am not the only one to question the veracity of the official version of 9/11.

15. Please keep an open mind when you read these websites. Please also remember that the truth is important because this incident resulted in Afghanistan and Iraq being invaded, hundreds of thousands being killed, the Muslims being demonised and discriminated against. Surely if the Muslim terrorists are not responsible, the Muslims do not deserve to be condemned, humiliated and killed.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

This article appeared in the New Straits Times, Wednesday Nov 21, 2012

1. Israel assassinated a Hamas leader, bombed Gaza and is preparing to invade that strip of free Palestine because rockets had been launched from Gaza to hit Tel Aviv.

2. Israel invariably claims that it is retaliating against Palestinian attacks. But Israel does not mention that it had attacked Gaza in the past and when its troops withdrew, it blockaded all supplies of food, medicine and construction materials to Gaza.

3. Malaysia cannot forget that its ship, the Rachel Corrie, carrying medicine and food for the beleaguered and starving people of Gaza were stopped in international waters and forced to go to Ashdod in Israel.

4. Nor can we forget the attack against the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship also carrying relief aid to Gaza in which nine aid workers were shot dead by Israeli soldiers.

5. Another Malaysia ship carrying plastic pipes for repairing the sewage system in Gaza was also forced by the Israeli Navy to turn around and go to Egypt.

6. Israel’s military action against Gaza had destroyed hospitals, schools, dwelling houses and the water-carriage system. The people could not rebuild their houses and buildings because Israel illegally blockaded the sea off Gaza. That blockade include attacks against relief ships in international waters – again in total disregard for international laws.

7. Israel did not want the Gaza people to rebuild their homes, forcing them to camp outside or seek refuge in their destroyed houses. Israel knows well how cold it can be in Gaza in winter. Israel does not allow food or medical supplies to be supplied to the suffering people of Gaza.

8. It is now almost a decade since the Israel invasion and destruction of Gaza. Every now and again Israel would fire rockets at Gaza. The strip has become a huge detention camp for the Gazans. No food, no medicine, no clean water, no shelter and no schools. Israel is really operating an Auschwitz type of concentration camps as operated by the Nazis for Jews in the last war. Israel tells the world that the Nazis were inhuman. But the Palestinians, the Gazans did not put Jews in concentration camps. Still they are being made to apparently pay for the sins of the Europeans. Humane treatment is only for Jews. If Jews treat the Arabs with the same kind of brutality, it is alright.

9. Can anyone be surprised the Gazans fire rockets at their Israeli tormentors.

10. Then one should remember that Israel is created by the Americans and Europeans as a Jewish homeland by seizing Palestinian land. Upon being given Palestinian land for a Jewish state, the Israelis massacred Palestinians at Deir Yassin and other locations forcing the Palestinians to flee their homes and country. For nearly 60 years now they have lived as refugees in sub-human condition in other countries.

11. In the meantime Israel has carried a systematic but illegal development of Jewish settlements in Palestinian land. Roads are built on Palestinian lands which are exclusively for Jews. High walls are built to divide Palestine villages. Israeli forces carried out assassinations of Palestinian leaders outside of Israel.

12. The Arab countries in the Middle East are exposed to attacks at anytime. There was, there is and there will never be any security for them. And their insecurity is because Israel believes in ensuring its security by pre-emptive attacks against it neighbours, by depriving others their security.

13. For all these and more, is it any wonder that the Palestinians and the Gazans should fire rockets at Israel. The Palestinians know the Israeli will retaliate with far more devastating attacks.

14. Keeping quiet is not a choice for the Palestinians, as the Israelis will continue their expansion, their settlements and their attacks.

15. The world will not do anything to help the Palestinians. For Israel now control the most powerful nation in the world. Any action against Israel would attract positive support by the United States of America. Obama has just won his second term as President of the U.S. Israel wants to attack Iran. So far the U.S. has not agreed. The invasion of Gaza is a test for Obama. Let us see what the Israeli satellite will do?

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Speech by Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad at the International Conference on at Dewan Tun Dr Ismail, PWTC, Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 19 November 2012

1. The Perdana Global Peace Foundation is doing the unthinkable. It is going to seek the truth about the destruction of the twin World Trade Centre buildings in New York on 9/11 i.e. on 11th September 2001.

2. The immediate reaction to this unprecedented aerial attack in America was that it was the work of Muslim terrorists. The Al-Qaeda is especially identified as the organisation behind this act. As a result President Bush wanted to go on a crusade against Muslims. He later withdrew that statement. But in fact his subsequent acts against Muslims reflected this mindset. He attacked two Muslim countries, Afghanistan and Iraq, killing their people and destroying these two countries, destabilising them and arresting their progress, even after knowing that the hijackers were not Afghans or Iraqis.

3. The whole Muslim world became suspect. The Muslims are distrusted, subjected to humiliating discrimination and detained without trial and tortured at will for years in camps situated outside the jurisdiction of US laws – in Guantanamo, Cuba for example and in Iraq. Others were flown to countries where torture was practiced so they could be tortured and not break us laws. Then the US actually passed a law legalising torture, a retrogressive act most unworthy of its claims as leader of modern civilisation.

4. But the US & Europe are even now paranoid that another similar attack might take place. Security measures and laws have been tightened. All of them were clearly directed against Muslims. Muslim airline passengers have been subjected to humiliating searches. Shoes have to be taken off for examination, toothpaste and hair creams and liquid cosmetics confiscated. Machines are developed to scan the whole body and at the slightest suspicion passengers were hauled off for questioning and detention.

5. The fact that Muslims have been more busy killing each other rather than Americans or Europeans has not changed the attitudes of the Europeans. Perhaps it is because they feel guilty and expect revenge for the injustices perpetrated by them that they fear Muslims, any Muslim. And more than a decade since 9/11, they are still obsessed with their own security, to the detriment of the security of other people.

6. The official explanation for the destruction of the twin towers is still about an attack by suicidal Muslim extremists. But even among Americans this explanation is beginning to wear thin and to be questioned. In fact, certain American groups have thoroughly analysed various aspects of the attack and destruction of the twin towers, the pentagon building and the reported crash in Pennsylvania. And their investigations reveal many aspects of the attack which cannot be explained by attributing them to attacks by terrorists, Muslim or non-Muslim.

7. Some of these Americans and many other prominent people have been invited by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation to give their views on 9/11. These people have no axe to grind. They are only interested in seeking the truth. The truth is important because 9/11 has triggered attacks on muslim countries and people in which hundreds of thousands have been killed and their countries devastated by the ‘shock and awe’ wars.

8. I have thought a lot about 9/11. I have seen pictures and video clips of the attacks. I have heard the narrators give their opinions regarding the attacks. But to this i would like to add my own opinion based on my observation of the Arabs at peace and at war.

9. The Arabs may have been great warriors in the past but after they fell under western rule they seem to have lost their prowess in wars. In their wars against Israel they were so inept that they have never won a single battle, even when their forces far outnumbered the Israelis. In the years immediately after the formation of the State of Israel, the combined armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria were defeated by smaller Israeli forces. The Arabs never seem to be able to plan or strategise and certainly their execution of battle plans are just plain bad.

10. They are not a disciplined people and this lack of discipline shows everywhere. And they cannot keep anything secret. Someone would leak whatever plan they may have worked out. For money there are Arabs who are prepared to reveal the hiding places of their leaders.

12. There has never been (and will never be) a hijacking of four large aircrafts simultaneously. Yet this was what was supposed to have happened. At apparently the same time the hijackers took command of four aircrafts while flying in different airspace in different directions.

13. We cannot know whether the hijackers carried arms but there has been no report of guns in the debris of all the four aircrafts. How they could overwhelm the whole crew and take control of four aircrafts at about the same time is a mystery.

14. Then the hijackers were supposed to make the aircrafts change course and fly to the four places. Pilots who realised they were going to die anyhow would have tried to steer away from the towers when it was obvious they were going to crash into them. It would not need much change of direction to miss the towers. But the planes hit the towers squarely, bursting into flames apparently due to the fuel they carried.

15. Maybe the hijackers were actually flying the aircrafts. But we are told they had only trained with small aircrafts. How did they know how to navigate the huge aircrafts so perfectly after changing course. And time was the essence. If the second plane was delayed, the ground control would have detected that there was something wrong with the second, third and fourth planes.

16. I can imagine trained operatives like those in the CIA or Mossad planning and executing this complex operation but i cannot imagine an Arab like Osama bin Laden planning and directing this sophisticated aerial attack from some remote place in Afghanistan. They would need an airport control tower with sophisticated instruments to do this. And they would need to be near enough to observe the flights and give instructions.

17. The planning alone would have been extremely complex. Lots of data would have to be collected a long time earlier. The pilots had to be trained for very many years before they could fly and navigate the commercial aircrafts.

18. The hijackers needed to take over the four aircrafts at about the same time while in flight. The aircrafts to be hijacked must be well selected so as not to be too far from the targets. The aircrafts had to be diverted at the right time for each to reach their targets at about the same time.

19. All these would require a lot of detailed planning from deciding which planes should be hijacked, to the number of hijackers for each plane, to the different roles of the hijackers to control the passengers and seize control of the aircrafts from the pilots, to the change in the flight plan, to the routes to be taken, to forcing the pilots to take the new routes or for the hijackers to take over the piloting of the planes etc etc.

20. Hijacking one aircraft is difficult enough. But hijacking four aircrafts and flying them so as to hit the targets at about the same time is an impossible task for amateurs. Even professionals would find it difficult to do. Yet four aircrafts crashed at about the same time.

21. I apologise to the Arabs but planning and executing of these complex operations are not something that they can do well. They are brave and they are willing to die for their beliefs. But they are not like the American Seals who planned and carried out the assassination of Osama bin Laden. Their planning included the disposal of the body of their victim. And they were “brilliant”. This is something that they were trained for years to do.

22. If the Arabs were to undertake such training it would soon become known to the CIA or Mossad and they would ensure that the whole operation be aborted.

23. But the fact remains that four planes were hijacked and they all crashed on their targets. If the hijackers could not be Arabs, then who were the “brilliant” hijackers. Clearly there is a need to know, for the event changed the world, making it insecure for everyone, and launching a clash of civilizations as predicted by Huntington.

24. I may be wrong of course but this forum will hopefully reveal the truth behind the events of 9/11. The Pearl Harbour attacks forced the us to join the second world war. I don’t think the Arabs planned to force the us to go to war against the Muslim world. But 9/11 did just what Pearl Harbour did, launch a horrific war which killed hundreds of thousands of Muslims, devastated Iraq and Afghanistan, and made Muslims the universal enemies of the whole world. Someone obviously gained from this.

25. Find the beneficiaries and I believe you will find the real terrorists.

26. This conference is about finding the truth regarding the world-shaking events of 9/11. Attempts will be made to blackout reports on the talks and discussions here. They will be made by the very protagonists of free speech and the free press. But the alternative media will frustrate them and shed light on the events.

27. The majority will probably conclude that the revelations by the speakers are preposterous. But a substantial number will believe or at least rethink their views of the events.

28. As I said earlier 9/11 had resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and afghans, as well as a few thousand us and British soldiers. It has devastated two Muslim countries and destabilised them with fratricidal wars which promise to last a very long time. It has divided the world into Muslim and non-Muslim, and sowed the seeds of suspicion and hatred between them. It has undermined the security of nations everywhere, forcing them to spend trillions of dollars on security measures. Yet the threat remains, not so much from alleged terrorists as from the powerful states and their crusade to change the world.

29. Truly 9/11 is the worst man-made disaster for the world since the end of the last world war.

30. For that reason alone, it is important that we seek the truth, because when truth is revealed than we can really prepare to protect and secure ourselves.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

This article originally appeared in the New Sunday Times, Nov 11, 2012

1.​ I don’t know whether it has been reported in Malaysian papers but the Israelis bombed an arms factory in Khartoum two weeks ago. This outrageous act is an example of Israeli disregard for international laws.

2.​ There is no war declared between Sudan and Israel. But that does not prevent Israel from bombing Sudan. As with the bombings of the Egyptian Airbase, Iraqi nuclear facilities, again without war being declared Israel feels entitled to bomb other countries in the pursuit of its own security. That the very real possibility of being bombed by Israel creates insecurity for other countries did not matter. Only Israeli security counts.

3. ​Israel alleges that arms were being supplied to the Palestinian, probably from Sudan. Whether that is true or not the fact remains that Israel itself is being supplied with all kinds of sophisticated weapons by the United States and Europe to be used as Israel thinks fit. Israel’s receipt of arms from foreign countries for its already powerful military forces is legitimate but the Palestinians may not receive arms to defend themselves so that the balance of terror must always be with Israel.

4. ​It even has nuclear weapons. Israeli military power obviously creates insecurity and terrifies the Arab countries. This is especially so as Israel has no compunction regarding bombing its neighbours at any time.

5. ​To ensure Israeli security, the powers that be allows Israel to break all international laws and norms of behaviour. Israeli navy illegally blockades Gaza, attacking relief ships in international waters and killing relief workers. An Israeli tractor deliberately ran over an American girl because she tried to stop the destruction of a Palestinian house. Israeli forces regularly fire rockets at Palestinians, Israel builds settlements on Palestinian land and erect high walls through Palestinian villages so as to cut off communications between Palestinian families.

6.​ Never in the history of nations has there been such a country as Israel. It disregards laws and its courts uphold criminal acts by its soldiers. It indulges in aggression and pre-emptive strikes without justification.

7.​ The world has to put up with Israeli lawlessness because it controls the most powerful nation in the world. Every candidate for Presidency or Congress must first declare support for Israel or lose their election.

8.​ It is as if criminals control and direct the police. There can be no security for people when the police take orders and sides with the criminals.

9.​ Modern civilisation is a mockery when a state such as Israel can do just what it likes against other countries. But then its minions do the same. They think nothing of assassinating people residing in other countries. They disposed off the bodies of their victims any way they like.

10. ​While mouthing pious words about freedom and the rule of law they apply sanctions against countries without approval of the United Nations. They believe they are justified in killing 500,000 children through sanctions in the pursuit of their Israel-inspired international policy.

11.​ When they apply sanctions against a country they force other countries to do the same. Failure to do so would be followed by threats to destroy the country’s economy and finances.

12. About any scientific discovery would be applied towards developing ever more fiendish weapons. The latest is based on the advances in remote controls. UAV or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are used for assassination of individuals, bombing villages and spying.

13.​ Their marines are dropped into foreign countries to carry out attacks and assassinations. Leaders of unfriendly countries would be killed through contrived accidents.

14. We are really living in a lawless world, a primitive world. It is almost as if barbarians are again at the door. Only this time the barbarians are more powerful because they are well educated.

15. Despite all the praise for modern civilisation and the accompanying humanitarianism and human rights, we are not free to do what we like. We can only do what is advocated by the powerful. If they don’t invade us they would still finance more or less openly to put their candidates in power. They make no effort to hide the desire to achieve regime change so as to have only submissive leaders in place.

16. The law of the jungle govern us now – the law by which the strong will take what they will and the weak will surrender what they must.

17. At the centre of this collapse of human civilisation is Israel, the Frankenstein monster state created by the West which they must now obey unquestioningly.

18. Unfortunately there is no way for us to return to civilisation, to feel secure, to be free of political and economic oppression. This is because there is no one willing or capable of challenging the bully, the most powerful but least humane nation in the world.